Uefa on Friday confirmed that the Dutch squad had been the victims of racist
chanting during a training session in England’s base city of Krakow having
initially appeared to have attempted to cover up the issue.

The slow reaction of the governing body caused alarm throughout football with various prominent figures questioning why an investigation had not been immediately launched into the incident.

The Football Association is also concerned that England might be subjected to similar abuse when their Euro 2012 kicks off on Monday amid fears that the problem is even more widespread in Ukraine.

One of the most outspoken critics was Piara Powar, the chief executive of Football Against Racism in Europe, who said that the Dutch captain Mark van Bommel had “no reason to invent such a claim” having said that black players in his nation’s squad were the targets of ‘monkey chants’ during open training in the Polish city on Wednesday.

Powar added: “If the captain says, ‘My team-mates were racially abused, I heard it, I was there at the ground level’, then one expects any FA to back the captain.”

Matters were, however, complicated by the fact that the Dutch FA declared in a statement that it would not be making an official complaint but was “more than willing to answer [the] questions of Uefa in this respect”.

Outlining the incident, the Dutch statement added: “As at one moment there was a lot of noise coming from a specific stand, the team decided to train at the other side of the stadium, which was much quieter. A few players have heard sounds, which could be described as possible monkey chants. However, the training staff on the pitch were not aware of this.”

Van Bommel had nevertheless been unequivocal in his stance, especially as the incident occurred hours after the Dutch squad had visited the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He said he would lead his team off the pitch if there was racist abuse during a game in the tournament which has caused alarm at Uefa.

Eventually Uefa released its own statement saying of the racist incident, which occurred at Wisla Krakow’s Stadion Miejski on Wednesday with around 500 fans abusing the players: “Should such behaviour happen at further training sessions, Uefa would evaluate the operational measures to be taken to protect players.

“Uefa has now been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting that occurred at the open training session of the Dutch team in Krakow.

“Uefa has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to discriminatory behaviour and has given the power to referees to stop matches in case of any repeated racist behaviour.”

Mario Balotelli, whose Italy side are also based in Krakow, had threatened to walk off in protest if he was racially abused during games but Uefa president Michel Platini warned any player who did so would be booked.

The families of two of England’s black players, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, have already decided against travelling to the tournament because of the potential problems which were raised in advance of the tournament.

Rio Ferdinand, the former England captain who was controversially omitted from Roy Hodgson’s squad for this tournament, said on Wednesday via Twitter: “Tell me I didn’t see this...the Dutch team getting abuse already? Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come”.

Clarke Carlisle, the chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, expressed his concern at Uefa’s apparently complacent stance. “I am disappointed by the hesitancy to confirm it, and to put the message out that this is something they want to take control of and investigate,” Carlisle said.

“What I’m fearful of is racist groups that operate in Poland and Ukraine, some of which I experienced first-hand, using the tournament as a platform to air their political views and shout their bigoted opinions. Uefa need to make sure if anything does arrive it’s dealt with swiftly, efficiently, harshly and uniformly. I’m hopeful it will be a good championship but I am apprehensive.

“I really do believe there are going to be several incidents where racist abuse will come to the fore. It will be a real test of Uefa’s strength of character and the protocol they have put in place to empower their officials to deal with these situations.”

Such a dispute over racist behaviour is a nightmare scenario for Uefa and for the English FA, which is acutely aware of the issues at stake.

As the row developed sports minister Hugh Robertson also voiced his concern, saying: “Racism of any form is unacceptable on the football pitch or elsewhere. If it occurs I would expect the authorities to stamp down on it in the strongest possible terms.”

Meanwhile Ukraine’s ambassador to London, Vladimir Khandogiy spoke out on the decision by the UK Government not to send a minister to any of England’s group games in the country. “This reason for not attending is something that I don’t understand since I believe that sport and politics, they don’t mix,” he said.